The first time I saw Duan Xiaolu was at the "Most Influential Business Women" dinner of Fortune two years ago. When she was the president of GE Healthcare Greater China, she was petite and dressed in a white suit with short hair and few words. At the banquet, there were a number of high-profile female executives who were not prominent among the crowd. In July last year, after serving as the president of GE Healthcare Greater China for four years, Duan Xiaoyu was promoted to the position of President of GE Greater China and continued to serve as the original position. Among the CEOs of large multinational companies in China, the Chinese are still a minority, and there are only a handful of female CEOs. In GE China, Duan Xiaoyu created “Two Firstsâ€: the first native CEO and the first female CEO.
In an interview with the author, she used “unexpected†to describe the mood when she was just notified. Although she has been a CEO for four years in the medical group and has achieved remarkable results, she feels that she “has a lot of room to learn and improve†and is not particularly prepared to take over a new position. She is not surprised by the mode of this airborne appointment. Looking back at GE's 18 years of work experience, the vast majority of transfers are not her initiative, but from high-level assignments. “These assignments have allowed me to experience in different business departments and different positions. I strive to do my best in every job, and this time is no exception,†she said firmly.
Duan Xiaoyu joined the audit department of GE Group in 1996. His first specialization was finance. He worked in the United States for four years and worked in Japan for two years. After that, he returned to China and held positions in marketing, sales and medical generals. He has gone through five positions. GE's different business units include plastics, silicones, and medical. As the world's largest infrastructure company, GE and China can be traced back to the early 20th century. After the reform and opening up, GE's first joint venture in China, GE Aviation Medical Systems Co., Ltd., was established in Beijing in 1991. To date, Duan Xiaoying's GE Greater China region has more than 50 wholly-owned, joint ventures and R&D centers with more than 18,000 employees and 2013 sales of $7 billion.
Since taking office, Duan Xiaoyu has become more and more excited about his work tasks by actively listening and thinking. In her view, the "new normal" of the Chinese economy is coming, and GE will enter a new era. In the “new normalâ€, the quality of growth is more important than speed, consumption will become dominant, and market-oriented reform will be deeper. The three important issues of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan†are closely related to GE China's business: clean energy (GE oil and gas, energy management), health care reform (GE Healthcare), urbanization (GE Aviation, transportation system).
Duan Xiaoying believes: "GE hopes to be deeply involved in the process of China's economic reform and social development, and to contribute its expertise and strength." "Deep participation" means a new round of localization strategy. Her previous series of strategies in the medical group have already made medical care in the forefront of localization within the GE Group, and also brought explosive revenue growth. She will promote “accelerating localization†at the group level. There are three dimensions: First, in product R&D, truly realize “landing†and find products that are truly suitable for China. Such products may not be the most technologically advanced, but the price/performance ratio is Highest. The second is the localization of services, including the improvement of service networks in the central and western, second- and third-tier cities and counties, and the construction of remote service networks. The third is to achieve a greater degree of localization of the supply chain, to achieve 100% self-sufficiency in the entire supply chain, and truly “groundedâ€.
Under the new normal, "scale innovation" is the driving force for China's economic development. In terms of innovation, GE has increased its investment in recent years. The GE China R&D Center in Shanghai is one of GE's five global R&D centers. The GE China R&D team has more than 3,000 scientists and engineers. Since 2012, GE has established innovation centers in Chengdu, Xi'an and Harbin. Duan Xiaoyu said that GE's innovation center can achieve collaborative innovation and truly involve customers in product development. For example, the research and development of some medical equipment allows doctors in tertiary hospitals and county hospitals to join the research and development process, put forward opinions and suggestions for improvement, and develop products that are close to the demand.
In the interview, Duan Xiaoyu speaks quickly. According to the staff, she is also a person who speaks fast and is very popular. She repeatedly stressed that “speed†is very important, especially in China's current changing market environment. If every decision has to wait for the headquarters to make it, "then we lose at the starting line." In this sense, Duan Xiaowei feels that GE China is already a local company and is fully authorized to make local decisions on its own initiative, “but faster, accelerate the simplification of culture, improve efficiency and reduce costsâ€. FastWorks is a cultural concept being promoted within GE. GE believes that it also seeks “lean, speedâ€.
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